sustainability

Article
Intelligence and Green Total Factor Productivity Based on
China’s Province-Level Manufacturing Data
Yining Zhang and Zhong Wu *

Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China; [email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract: The application of intelligent technology has an important impact on the green total
factor productivity of China’s manufacturing industry. Based on the provincial panel data of China’s
manufacturing industry from 2008 to 2017, this article uses the Malmquist–Luenburger (ML) model to
measure the green total factor productivity of China’s manufacturing industry, and further constructs
an empirical model to analyze the impact mechanism of intelligence on green total factor productivity.
The results show that intelligence can increase the green total factor productivity of the manufacturing
industry. At the same time, mechanism analysis shows that intelligence can affect manufacturing
green total factor productivity by improving technical efficiency. However, the effect of intelligence
on the technological progress of the manufacturing industry is not significant. In addition, the
impact of intelligence has regional heterogeneity. It has significantly promoted the green total factor
productivity in the eastern and central regions of China, while its role in the western region is not
obvious. The research in this article confirms that intelligence has a significant positive impact on the
green total factor productivity of the manufacturing industry, and can provide suggestion for the
current further promotion of the deep integration of intelligence and the green development of the
manufacturing industry to achieve the strategic goal of industrial upgrading.



Keywords: intelligent; manufacturing; green total factor productivity



Citation: Zhang, Y.; Wu, Z.

Intelligence and Green Total Factor
Productivity Based on China’s 1. Introduction
Province-Level Manufacturing Data.
Since the reform and opening up, China’s economy has developed rapidly. In 2010,
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989. https://
China became the world’s largest manufacturing country and showed a development trend
doi.org/10.3390/su13094989
of shifting from the low-end to the high-end. However, in the process of manufacturing
upgrades, the production of enterprises consumed a large amount of resources and energy,
Received: 23 March 2021
Accepted: 27 April 2021
and discharged a lot of waste gas, wastewater, and so on that caused serious damage and
Published: 29 April 2021
pollution to the environment. Therefore, the green transformation of the manufacturing
industry is imminent, which means that it needs to take environmental and energy factors
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
into consideration in the manufacturing process. The essence is to enhance the total factor
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
productivity (TFP) of environmental, energy, and other factors, which is the green total fac-
published maps and institutional affil- tor productivity (GTFP), to make their contribution to the quality of the economic growth,
iations. which also means a double win for manufacturing economic performance and environ-
mental performance. Green total factor productivity mainly focuses on the two aspects of
total factor production and the green production. Total factor productivity mainly focuses
on the efficiency of input and output, such as dynamic supply-chain management and
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors.
enterprise operational performance, natural resources, and economic development [1,2].
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Due to the excessive consumption of resources in economic development and the pollution
This article is an open access article
caused by the production process, we must consider not only economic benefits, but also
distributed under the terms and environmental benefits [3–5]. At the same time, the green development of manufacturing is
conditions of the Creative Commons the key to the synchronization of the “five modernizations”, and intelligent manufacturing
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// is an important means to realize the green development of the manufacturing industry.
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ With the development of new global technological and industrial revolutions, in-
4.0/). telligent manufacturing has become the main direction of the development of global

Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094989 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 2 of 16

manufacturing. In recent years, developed countries have successively launched manufac-

turing development strategies to cultivate new competitive advantages in manufacturing:
the United States promulgated the “Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Program”, Ger-
many implemented “Industry 4.0” development strategy, Japan proposed the “Industrial
Value Chain” plan, and the United Kingdom implemented the “Industrial 2050 Strategy”.
As can be seen, intelligent manufacturing has become the inevitable choice for the transfor-
mation and development of manufacturing industries and enhancing the competitiveness
of manufacturing industries in various countries. Facing the new trend of manufactur-
ing development, the Chinese government pays much attention to the development of
intelligent manufacturing. The State Council issued the “Made in China 2025” strategy in
2015, which took intelligent manufacturing as the main direction. The Ministry of Industry
and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the “Intelligent
Manufacturing Development Plan (2016–2020)”, which aimed to further accelerate the
development of the manufacturing. Intelligent manufacturing is of great significance
to facilitate the transformation of the manufacturing industry and the development of
the manufacturing value chain to the mid-to-high end. At the same time, in the era of
“Industry 4.0”, intelligent manufacturing also has an important impact on China’s
economic growth.
There are many studies related to intelligence and manufacturing green development;
however, there are few studies on how intelligence affects manufacturing GTFP. Does
intelligence affect manufacturing GTFP, and if so, how? Does intelligence have different
effects on the GTFP of the manufacturing in different regions? Using the provincial panel
data of the manufacturing industry in China from 2008 to 2017, this paper studies the
impact of intelligence on manufacturing GTFP and the different effects in different regions.

2. Literature Review
2.1. The Impact of Intelligence on the Economy
Intelligent manufacturing has become an important trend in the development of global
manufacturing that has had an obvious effect on the social and economic development of
human beings, and it has also become a research focus of scholars from all over the world.
In recent years, scholars have conducted research on intelligence, mainly on the aspects of
economic development.
Hanson established an exogenous growth model to study the impact of intelligence
on the economy. The model assumed that machines have different effects on human
labor at different stages. In the initial stage, machines and human labor complement
each other, but eventually machines replace human labor on a large scale. The study
also found that as the level of automation continued to improve, the economic growth
rate also increased substantially [6]. Aghion et al. conducted research that showed that
the application of intelligence accelerated the process of automation while promoting
productivity. However, as the cost of nonautomated industries rises, the rate of return on
capital will continue to decrease. Therefore, the impact of artificial intelligence on economic
growth is not certain [7]. Agrawal et al. introduced the process of knowledge combination
on the basis of Jones’ model to study the impact of artificial intelligence on economic
growth. The results showed that artificial intelligence technology can significantly promote
economic growth [8]. Clarke used the data of Australian listed companies from 2004 to
2008 to empirically study the relationship between industrial intelligence and corporate
performance. The results showed that industrial intelligence can significantly improve
corporate performance and enhance corporate competitiveness [9]. Laptev pointed out
that intelligence can reduce enterprise costs and improve enterprise competitiveness. As
the basic unit of the macro economy, the improvement of enterprise competitiveness
will promote the development of the regional economy [10]. Artificial intelligence has a
huge impact on technological innovation and economic development by improving the
performance and innovation process of technology [11]. In some extreme cases, artificial
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 3 of 16

intelligence may even rapidly self-improve and bring unlimited economic growth in a
limited time [12].

2.2. Research on GTFP

The production of enterprises consumes a large amount of resources and energy, and
discharges a lot of waste gas, wastewater and so on that cause serious damage and pollution
to the environment. GTFP has attracted widespread attention, and many scholars have
researched GTFP. Based on the meta-frontier theory and data envelopment analysis method,
C Fang et al. calculated the green total factor productivity of extractive industries in China
from 2006 to 2017, and analyzed its influencing factors [13]. Based on the comprehensive
control method (SCM) using microdata, Jiang Yufan et al. studied the net impact of the
establishment of China’s (Shanghai) pilot free trade zone on Shanghai’s green total factor
productivity [14]. The study measured green total factor productivity (GTFP) to discuss
whether factor market distortions inhibit the green development of China’s economy.
Boqiang Lin et al. found that factor market distortion had a negative impact on China’s
GTFP growth [15]. Wu used an SFA basic model to analyze the temporal and spatial
dynamic evolution trend of marine economic green production efficiency in coastal areas
of China [16]. D Liu et al. used the Super-SBM model to calculate China’s agricultural
green total factor productivity. On this basis, the kernel density estimation method was
used to study its dynamic evolution trend, and the panel data model was used to conduct
empirical research on the influencing factors of China’s agricultural green total factor
productivity [17]. Erdmann et al. studied the impact of ICT on greenhouse gas emissions
through a scenario analysis, and found that in most scenarios, ICT reduced greenhouse gas
emissions [18].

2.3. The Impact of Intelligence on the Total Factor Productivity

There are few studies on the impact of intelligence on green total factor productivity,
and some have studied the impact of intelligent on production efficiency. Scholars’ research
on the relationship between intelligence and TFP is mainly divided into two categories.
On the one hand, some scholars thought that intelligence can promote the growth
of manufacturing TFP. Acemoglu and Restrepo studied the impact of automation on
labor productivity and employment based on the theory of endogenous growth, and
found that automation reduced the demand for labor through the use of cheap capi-
tal, and productivity was greatly improved [19]. Kromann et al. used panel data from
10 manufacturing industries in nine countries from 2004 to 2007 to study the impact of
increased automation on productivity. The results showed that large-scale use of industrial
robots had a significant effect on labor productivity [20]. Brynjolfsson et al. used survey
data from 179 listed companies to analyze the impact of business practices and information-
technology investment on production efficiency. The study showed that the output and
productivity of companies that used data-driven decision-making were higher than for
those that used other investment and information technologies by 5–6% [21]. Graetz and
Michaels used panel data to empirically study the impact of automation on the economy.
The research showed that the use of industrial robots significantly increased labor produc-
tivity, increasing GDP and labor productivity by 0.37% and 0.36%, respectively [22]. Feng
Zhaokui researched the workshop of the Japanese automobile manufacturing industry
and found that with the increasingly low price of robots, the ratio of robots replacing
workers in production lines was increasing, which greatly reduced the labor required for
daily production and improves labor productivity [23]. Commander et al. conducted
research on companies in Brazil and India and found that information and communication
technology had a positive effect on the productivity in both countries, and this effect was
highly adaptable to different testing methods [24]. He Zhao et al. studied the application
of AR/VR technologies in in the field of managing human resources (HRs) and basic
operational corporate business processes. They found that AR/VR technologies could
optimize business operation processes [25].
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 4 of 16

On the other hand, some scholars believe that intelligence has not significantly pro-
moted total factor productivity development, or even inhibited such development. Cowen
pointed out that the development of the Internet and computer technology does not pro-
mote productivity significantly. He believed that in the general perception, technological
progress can effectively promote the increase of productivity. But when it comes to com-
puter technology, this experience often turns out to be wrong [26]. Brynjolfsson et al.
believed that there are four possible explanations for the artificial intelligence produc-
tivity paradox: false expectations, measurement errors, centralized distribution and rent
dissipation, and implementation and restructuring delays [27]. Acemoglu and Restrepo
pointed out that excessive automation is the main reason for suppressing productivity
growth. Excessive automation not only directly leads to low production efficiency, but
also may indirectly inhibit productivity growth through waste of resources and labor
mismatch [28]. Acemoglu et al. made the research on the impact of the use of industrial
robots in 19 industries on the U.S. labor market, and found that the large-scale application
of industrial robots has a significant negative impact on employment and wages [29]. Stiroh
conducted research based on the US manufacturing industry and believed that there was
no evidence that the spillover effects of information technology would bring about total
factor productivity growth [30].
Current literature contains rich research on intelligence and GTFP. However, there
is a lack of direct research on the relationship between intelligence and the quality of
economic development, and there are no studies on the relationship between intelligence
and economic green development. Therefore, this article comprehensively considers
the three factors of intelligence, economic development, and the environment, analyzes
the internal mechanism of intelligence on the green development of the manufacturing
industry, and provides a new perspective for the green transformation and upgrading of
China’s economy. At the same time, this article studies the internal connection between
the integrated development of “intelligence + manufacturing” and the transformation and
upgrading of the manufacturing industry, which has important practical significance for
improving the intelligence level of China’s manufacturing industry and promoting the
green manufacturing industry.

3. Empirical Analysis and Research Hypothesis

3.1. Empirical Analysis
Regarding the development of GTFP and intelligence in China, Figure 1 shows the
actual situation of GTFP and intelligence in China from 2008 to 2017.The specific calculation
method will be introduced in detail below. As can be seen, GTFP and intelligence had simi-
lar trends from 2008 to 2017. At present, there are few studies of the relationship between
intelligence and green total factor productivity in manufacturing at home and abroad,
but studies related to Internet technology, information technology, and environmental
protection found that the Internet and informatization are beneficial in promoting environ-
mental protection. The Internet can improve environmental quality by reducing energy
consumption and reducing pollution emissions. The use of the Internet is conducive to the
reduction of energy intensity and the improvement of energy efficiency in the production
sector, thereby reducing energy consumption [31,32]. The development of information and
communication technology can suppress the level of carbon dioxide emissions, and the use
of Internet platforms for transactions can reduce carbon dioxide emissions in developed
countries [33,34]. We can make the hypothesis that intelligence has a positive relationship
with GTFP.
 formation and communication technology can suppress the level of carbon dioxide emis
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989
sions, and the use of Internet platforms for transactions can reduce carbon 5dioxide
of 16
emis
sions in developed countries [33,34]. We can make the hypothesis that intelligence has
positive relationship with GTFP.

1.4 0.35
1.2 0.3
1 0.25
0.8 0.2
0.6 0.15
0.4 0.1
0.2 0.05
0 0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
GTFP Intelligentization

Figure1.1.GTFP
Figure GTFP and
and intelligence
intelligence in China
in China from from 2008
2008 to to 2017.
2017.

InInorder
orderto to
further analyze
further the relationship
analyze between
the relationship intelligence
between and GTFP
intelligence andinGTFP
manu-in manu
facturing,
facturing,wewe conducted
conducteda coupling analysis
a coupling of intelligence
analysis and GTFP.
of intelligence and We calculated
GTFP. the
We calculated th
coupling coordination degree using the following formulas:
coupling coordination degree using the following formulas:
 0.5
0.5
 ∗ Int  

 GTFP 
C= 
 + Int 2   (1)
 GTFP  2 GTFP * Int 

C=

2 
(1
 GTFP +
 + β ∗ Int
V = α ∗ GTFP Int   (2)

√  
2
U = C∗V
2   (3)
V = α * GTFP
where α and β are the contribution coefficients + β * Int
in intelligence and GTFP. We determined (2
that α and β are both equal to 0.5, considering that they are both equally important in
manufacturing, and interact equally within the U =system.
2
C *VG is the coupling degree of these (3
two subsystems, V is the comprehensive index of these subsystems, and U is the coupling
where α anddegree
coordination β are of
thethe
contribution coefficients
system. According to theinrelated
intelligence
research,and GTFP.
U can We determine
be divided
into four stages: U
that α and β are both∈ 0, 0.3
( equal ) , which indicates the low coordination stage;
to 0.5, considering that they are both equally U ∈ 0.3, 0.5),
( important i
which indicates theand
manufacturing, moderate
interact coordination
equally within U ∈system.
stage;the (0.5, 0.8)G, which
is the indicates
couplingthe high of thes
degree
coordination stage; V
two subsystems, is U
and the∈comprehensive
(0.8, 0.1), which indicates
index of the extreme
these coordination
subsystems, and Ustage.
is the couplin
The degree of coupling coordination between the level of intelligence and the GTFP
coordination degree of the system. According to the related research, U can be divide
of the manufacturing industry is shown in Figure 2. In 2008, the coupling coordination
into of
degree four stages:andU
intelligent ∈（0,
GTFP 0.30.501,
was ） , which
whichwasindicates
in the middle thecoordination
low coordination
stage. In stage
U ∈（
2017, 0.3,
the 0.5）, which
coupling coordination
indicatesdegree
theofmoderate
intelligence and GTFP was
coordination stage; ∈（0.5,
0.726,Uwhich was0.8in）, whic
a highly coordinated stage. The degree of coupling and coordination from 2008 to 2017
indicates the high coordination stage; and U ∈ （0.8, 0.1）, which indicates the extrem
exceeded 0.5, indicating that there was a close relationship between intelligence and the
coordination
GTFP stage.
of manufacturing.
The degree of coupling coordination between the level of intelligence and the GTF
of the manufacturing industry is shown in Figure 2. In 2008, the coupling coordinatio
degree of intelligent and GTFP was 0.501, which was in the middle coordination stage. I
2017, the coupling coordination degree of intelligence and GTFP was 0.726, which was i
a highly coordinated stage. The degree of coupling and coordination from 2008 to 201
exceeded 0.5, indicating that there was a close relationship between intelligence and th
GTFP of manufacturing.
 Sustainability
Sustainability 2021, 13,x4989
2021,13, FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 16 6

Figure2. 2.
Figure Coupling
Coupling andand coordination
coordination degreedegree of intelligence
of intelligence and GTFPand
fromGTFP
2008 tofrom
2017.2008 to 2017.

Considering
Considering thethe
impact of intelligence
impact on GTFP,
of intelligence onitGTFP,
is essential
it is to considerto
essential both the
consider bot
input and output aspects. Including capital, traditional labor production factors input and
input and output aspects. Including capital, traditional labor production factors inpu
energy input. Output includes expected output GDP and undesired output environmental
energy input.
pollutant Output
emissions. includes
It is generally expected
believed output
that the lowerGDP andthe
the input, undesired
higher theoutput
expectedenviron
tal pollutant
output, and thatemissions. It is generally
lower undesired output meansbelieved
the GTFPthatincreases
the lower theIninput,
faster. the highe
addition,
expected
green output,
total factor and that can
productivity lower undesired
be divided output
into the formsmeans the GTFP
of technical increases
efficiency and faste
technological progress [35–37]. Based on the Malmquist theory, this article
addition, green total factor productivity can be divided into the forms of technical analyzes the
mechanism
ciency andoftechnological
the impact of intelligence on the GTFP
progress [35–37]. of the
Based onmanufacturing
the Malmquist industry from
theory, this articl
the perspectives of technological progress and technical efficiency. This provides a realistic
alyzes the mechanism of the impact of intelligence on
basis for our research on the relationship between intelligence and GTFP.
the GTFP of the manufacturin
dustry from the perspectives of technological progress and technical efficiency. This
3.2. Research
vides Hypothesis
a realistic basis for our research on the relationship between intelligence and G
3.2.1. Technical Efficiency Perspective
3.2. Intelligence
Research Hypothesis
can improve the single-factor productivity of enterprises. Advanced
technology and management methods cannot directly increase the total factor produc-
3.2.1. Technical Efficiency Perspective
tivity. Technology and management methods must accelerate the growth of total factor
Intelligence
productivity can improve
by increasing the single-factor
the productivity productivity
of input factors. Intelligence ofimproves
enterprises.
the Adva
labor productivity of enterprises through the substitution effect and complementary
technology and management methods cannot directly increase the total factor produ effect
of labor
ity. [38]. Companies
Technology and use industrial robots
management to replace
methods must workers engaged
accelerate theingrowth
proceduralof total f
and repetitive tasks, which saves labor input. At the same time, highly skilled labor and
productivity by increasing the productivity of input factors. Intelligence improves th
intelligence cooperate with each other. With the help of intelligent machine learning and
bor productivity
automatic of enterprises
analysis, humans through
can complete tasksthe
suchsubstitution effect
as design faster, andand complementary
improve work e
of labor [38]. Companies use industrial robots to replace workers engaged
efficiency. Intelligence can reduce the depreciation rate of fixed assets of enterprises, im- in proced
and repetitive
prove tasks,ofwhich
the productivity saves
machines, andlabor input.promote
effectively At thethe same time,
growth of highly skilled
the return on labor
capital of enterprises. Compared with traditional automated machines, intelligent
intelligence cooperate with each other. With the help of intelligent machine learning robots
can continue analysis,
automatic to producehumans
new products
can under
completethe condition
tasks such thatas
thedesign
basic product
faster,structure
and improve w
remains unchanged, reducing the loss of capital on production equipment. In terms of
efficiency. Intelligence can reduce the depreciation rate of fixed assets of enterprises
machine production efficiency, intelligent machines optimize production processes through
prove theanalysis
algorithm productivity of machines,
and machine and effectively
learning, simplifying promote
production the
steps, andgrowth of the retur
improving
capital of enterprises.
production efficiency. Compared with traditional automated machines, intelligent ro
can Intelligence
continue to canproduce new products
improve energy under
efficiency and theenergy
reduce condition that theIntelligent
consumption. basic product s
development has improved the production efficiency of manufacturing
ture remains unchanged, reducing the loss of capital on production equipment. industries that In t
promote the improvement of the efficiency of energy use in the manufacturing process.
of machine production efficiency, intelligent machines optimize production proc
The improvement of energy efficiency means the reduction of energy consumption under
through algorithm analysis and machine learning, simplifying production steps, and
the same output level. The reduction in energy consumption in manufacturing production
proving
also production
represents efficiency.
a reduction in input. The reduction of input under the same output also
Intelligence can
means an increase in green improve energy
total factor efficiency and reduce energy consumption. In
productivity.
gent development has improved the production efficiency of manufacturing indus
that promote the improvement of the efficiency of energy use in the manufacturing
cess. The improvement of energy efficiency means the reduction of energy consump
under the same output level. The reduction in energy consumption in manufacturing
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 7 of 16

Intelligence improves the management level of an enterprise. Through an intelligent

management system and decision-support system, the enterprise can effectively improve
its operation management level and decision-making level, and realize efficient production
management and operation management. Intelligence can predict market trends more
accurately through big data analysis, scientifically arranging production plans, and always
maintaining low inventory while meeting the market’s maximum demand. Intelligence
has been monitoring all links of production, which improves the supervision and control
ability of enterprises regarding the production process and product quality, and promotes
the improvement of production efficiency. Intelligence can optimize the production plan of
an enterprise, improve the quality of supervision and decision-making, and improve the
technical production efficiency of enterprises.

3.2.2. Technological Progress Perspective

Intelligence can reduce environmental pollution. Intelligence pays attention to pro-
tecting the ecological environment during the development of the manufacturing industry.
The whole process of product design, development, production, sales, and recycling is com-
bined with scientific intelligence to reduce environmental pollution. Intelligence promotes
green production technology in the manufacturing process, focusing on the maximization
of ecological environmental benefits, social benefits, and economic benefits. Intelligence can
realize automation and lean and green manufacturing processes, promote the improvement
of the overall technical level of the equipment manufacturing industry, reduce production
costs and resource consumption through intelligent equipment technology, improve the
energy-saving and emission-reduction capabilities of enterprises in the manufacturing
process, and commit to building an environment-friendly society.
The continuous innovation of smart technology has driven the manufacturing industry
to develop in the direction of digitization and intelligentization. The continuous innovation
of intelligent technology has promoted the development of manufacturing in the direction
of digitalization and intelligentization. With the expansion of the depth and breadth of the
integration of intelligent technology and the real economy, new intelligent industry models
continue to emerge, intelligent logistics continue to innovate, various digital products
continue to appear, and intelligent manufacturing gradually advances. Intelligence can
significantly improve a company’s technical level, and increase the technical content and
added value of products. These intelligent industrial models enhance the contribution of
science and technology to the economic growth of the whole society, bring new growth
points to our economy, and promote the rapid development of our economy.
Intelligence promotes the optimization of manufacturing structures. First, in the early
stage of product production, intelligence promotes the rationalization of the manufacturing
structure through improved R&D and cooperation models. By using artificial intelligence
technologies such as deep learning and machine learning, manufacturing enterprises can
quickly and effectively analyze and research market information, and use intelligent R&D
and design tools to quickly and efficiently conduct collaborative product R&D and design.
Second, in the process of product manufacturing, intelligence promotes the optimization of
manufacturing structures through efficient personalized production. The application of
intelligent devices and technologies, such as robots, intelligent workshops, and intelligent
factories, has improved the intelligence level of manufacturing enterprises, thus promoting
the upgrading of manufacturing structures. Finally, in the process of product circulation
and after-sales, intelligence provides personalized service to customers, so as to promote
the optimization of manufacturing structures. Intelligent personalized service makes the
communication between enterprises and customers convenient and fast. Enterprises can
obtain the customer’s evaluation of products in real time, and develop new products and
technologies according to the feedback information.
On the basis of the above analysis, this article proposes two hypotheses:
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 8 of 16

Hypothesis 1. Intelligence can significantly promote the improvement of GTFP in China’s manu-
facturing industry.

Hypothesis 2. Intelligence has a positive influence on GTFP through efficiency improvement and
technological progress.

4. Model, Data, and Variables

4.1. Economic Model
In the literature, Hou [39] introduced the green total factor productivity model to
measure the effect of market integration on GTFP. The economic model of the current
article mainly draws on their ideas and changes them. This paper takes intelligence (Int)
into account in Formula (4). The model of this article is as follows:

Y = A Lα K β Intγ (4)

Manufacturing green total factor productivity is defined as:

GTFP = Y/Lα K β Int (5)

GTFP represents green total factor productivity, then we substitutes Formula (4) into
Formula (5), and we derive Formula (6):

GTFP = AIntγ (6)

We take the natural logarithm of Formula (4) to get the basic theoretical model of
this article:
LnGTFP = α0 + α1 LnIntit + ε it (7)
In reality, there are many factors that affect the green total factor productivity of
manufacturing. We selected foreign direct investment, economic level, urbanization, ad
regional human capital as the control variables. The formula is expressed as:

LnGTFP = α0 + α1 LnIntit + α2 LnFdiit + α3 LnGDPit + α4 LnUbrit + α5 LnHcit + ε it (8)

In order to explore the specific path of the effect of intelligence on the GTFP of
manufacturing, we used Malmquist’s decomposition items of Technical Efficiency (EFF)
and Technological Progress (TECH) as explained variables, and other variables remained
unchanged to construct a model:

LnEFF = α0 + α1 LnIntit + α2 LnFdiit + α3 LnGDPit + α4 LnUbrit + α5 LnHcit + ε it (9)

LnTECH = α0 + α1 LnIntit + α2 LnFdiit + α3 LnGDPit + α4 LnUbrit + α5 LnHcit + ε it (10)

EFF reflects the distance of the evaluation unit relative to the production frontier in
different periods. TECH reflects the movement status of the production frontier during the
period. Fdi represents the foreign direct investment, GDP represents the economic level,
Ubr represents the urbanization, and Hc represents the regional human capital. The symbol
“i” is defined as the region, and “t” is defined as the time.

4.2. Data Description

The sample for our empirical study was panel data from 29 provinces in the China
mainland from 2008 to 2017 (due to missing data, Tibet and Ningxia were not included).
All the original data in this article came from the China Statistical Yearbook, the China
Regional Economic Statistical Yearbook, etc.
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 9 of 16

4.3. Variables Selection

4.3.1. Green Total Factor Productivity
Existing papers only considered the output of economic benefits when measuring
total factor productivity. However, with the intensification of environmental pollution,
only considering economic benefits may lead to a misleading evaluation of economic
performance and social welfare [40]. Therefore, considering the expected output and the
undesired output at the same time can result in a more accurate measurement of economic
and social development [41]. According to the above analysis, we incorporated the ex-
pected output and undesired output into the productivity framework, and constructed the
Malmquist–Luenburger (ML) index to measure GTFP. The formula is as follows:
 →t
  → t +1
1/2
1 + D0 ( x t , ydt , yut ; gt ) 1 + D0 ( x t , ydt , yut ; gt )
MLt+1 =  →t
∗ 
→ t +1
1 + D0 ( x t+1 , ydt+1 , yut+1 ; gt+1 ) 1 + D0 ( x t+1 , ydt+1 , yut+1 ; gt+1 )
(11)
The Malmquist–Luenburger (ML) index can decompose the items of Technical Effi-
ciency (EFF) and Technological Progress (TECH):
" #1/2
→t →t → t +1
1+ D0 ( x t ,ydt ,yut ;gt ) 1+ D0 ( x t ,ydt ,yut ;gt ) 1+ D 0 ( x1+t ,ydt+1 ,yut+1 ;gt+1 )
MLt+1 = EFF t+1 ∗ TECH t+1 = →t ∗ →t ∗ →t (12)
1+ D0 ( x t+1 ,ydt+1 ,yut+1 ;gt+1 ) 1+ D0 ( x t ,ydt ,yut ;gt ) 1+ D0 ( x t+1 ,ydt+1 ,yut+1 ;gt+1 )

If the values of the ML index, EFF, and TECH are greater than 1, it means that from
t to t + 1, the level of GTFP, technical efficiency, and technological progress have been
increased, otherwise it is reduced (less than 1) or unchanged (equal to 1).
In the actual measurement process, we need to set the corresponding input variables
and output variables in advance [42,43]. In terms of input variables, we chose the fixed asset
investment in the manufacturing industry, the number of employees in the manufacturing
industry in each province, and the standard coal consumption in each province in China as
input indicators from 2008 to 2017.They represent capital investment, personnel investment,
and energy investment, respectively. As output variables, we mainly included expected
output and undesired output. We used the manufacturing GDP of each province to express
the expected output. As the undesired outputs, we used industrial sulfur dioxide (SO2 )
emissions, wastewater disposal, and solid waste.

4.3.2. Intelligence
Intelligence Index (Int): We measured intelligence from the perspective of investment,
which was mainly divided into three aspects: intelligent R&D expenditure, equipment
investment, and intelligent developer investment. Intelligent R&D funding and equipment
investment are the foundation for intelligent manufacturing. R&D funding and equipment
investment provide strong support for manufacturing companies to achieve digitalization
and intelligence. We used telecom fixed-asset investment as the proxy variable. Intelligent
R&D personnel are an important guarantee for the intelligent development of China’s
manufacturing industry. The increase in the number of enterprise R&D personnel is
conducive to the improvement of enterprise intelligence. We replaced the number of
intelligent developers with the number of computer developers. We used the entropy
method to deal with the investment in fixed assets of telecommunications and the number
of computer developers, and calculated the intelligence index of the area; the larger the
index, the higher the intelligence of the area. The entropy method is shown as:

For positive indicators : Xθij 0 = Xθij /Xmax (13)

For negative indicators : Xθij 0 = Xmin /Xθij (14)

Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 10 of 16

where Xθij is the jth index value of province i in the year θ.

Determining the weight of index data : Yθij = Xθij 0 /∑ ∑ Xθij 0 (15)

θ i

Calculating the entropy value of j index : Ej = −K ∑ ∑ Yθlj ln(Yθlj ), K > 0, K = ln( RN )

θ l
(16)
where R indicates the year and N indicates the province.

Calculating the information utility value of j index : Gj = 1 − Ej . (17)

Calculating the weight of each index : w j = Gj /∑ Gj (18)

j

Calculating the intelligence value of each province : Intθi = ∑ (w j Xθij

0
) (19)
j
4.3.3. Control Variables
In this research topic, other control variables that may affect GTFP include foreign
direct investment, economic level, urbanization, and regional human capital. (1) For foreign
direct investment, we selected foreign investment of the provinces from 2008 to 2017 as the
indicator; (2) for economic level, we chose the regional GDP of the provinces from 2008
to 2017 as the indicator to express this; (3) the level of urbanization (Urb) was expressed
by the ratio of the urban population to the total population of a province; and (4) the level
of human capital was based on the full-time equivalent of R&D personnel in the region.
Table 1 lists the descriptive statistical results of all the above variables.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of variables.

Variable Unit Obs Mean Std. Dev Min Max

GTFP 1 290 1.079 0.292 0.067 1.980
EEF 1 290 1.065 0.240 0.573 1.970
TECF 1 290 1.035 0.286 0.109 1.950
Int 1 290 0.167 0.141 0.006 0.732
FDI 100 290 0.013 0.011 0.000 0.053
GDP CNY 100 million 290 20,439.763 15,998.032 1081.270 89,705.230
Urb 100 290 0.228 0.178 0.012 1.000
Hc 100 290 76,746.305 100,156.158 617.700 457,342.000

5. Results and Discussion

5.1. The Impact of Intelligence on Green Total Factor Productivity
In order to comprehensively analyze the impact of intelligence on the GTFP of China’s
manufacturing, and to explore the source of manufacturing GTFP changes, the empirical
analysis of this paper was mainly divided into two parts: On the one hand, intelligence af-
fects the overall regression of China’s manufacturing GTFP, and the regression of the GTFP
decomposition item. On the other hand, this paper analyzes the influence of intelligence on
the GTFP of manufacturing in China’s eastern, central, and western regions, and explores
the regional heterogeneity of intelligence on the GTFP of China’s manufacturing industry.
This study used Eviews10 to estimate the model; the results are shown in the Table 2.
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 11 of 16

Table 2. National overall regression results.

Variables GTFP EFF TECH

LnInt 0.087 ** 0.141 * −0.152 *
LnFdi −0.08 * −0.18 0.14 **
LnGDP 0.122 ** 0.037 * 0.131
LnUbr −0.01 * 0.454 * −0.27 *
LnHC 0.18 ** −0.273 0.026 *
Cons 1.081 *** 0.951 *** 1.046 **
R2 0.609 0.512 0.471
Note: ***, **, and * represent significance of p-values at 1%, 5%, and 10%, respectively.

According to Table 2, it can be found that intelligence had a positive and significant
impact on the GTFP and technical efficiency of the manufacturing industry, and had a neg-
ative impact on technical progress. This showed that intelligence can effectively promote
the growth of GTFP in manufacturing, which verified the theoretical hypothesis of this
article. Intelligence promotes technical efficiency but inhibits technological progress. This
may be because China’s current manufacturing enterprises are more inclined to use intelli-
gent technology to improve production efficiency, ignoring the technological upgrading
of manufacturing through intelligence. Intelligence had a positive impact on GTFP and
technical efficiency, and had a negative impact on technical progress. This was similar
to the conclusions drawn by scholars such as Adler that from the perspective of modern
economic development worldwide, all economies lack industries with rapid technological
advancement. This is not because of lack of technological innovation opportunities, but
because of lack of technological innovation incentives [44,45].
According to the other control variables, the impact of foreign investment on the GTFP
of manufacturing was negative. This may be due to the transfer of industrial chains by
Western developed countries and the transfer of more polluting industries to developing
countries and regions, which causes developing countries and regions to face the dilemma
of environmental pollution. The impact of GDP on manufacturing GTFP and technical
efficiency was both positive and significant, while the impact on technological progress
was not significant, indicating that economic development promoted the growth of GTFP
in manufacturing by improving manufacturing technical efficiency. Urbanization had a
negative impact on manufacturing GTFP, which indicated that the quality of urbaniza-
tion was low. On the one hand, the excessive concentration of population in big cities
made the flow of economic factors unbalanced. On the other hand, the rapid progress
of population urbanization increased the pressure on the urban ecological environment.
The impact of R&D human capital on manufacturing GTFP and technical progress was
positive and significant, but the impact on technical efficiency was not significant, indicat-
ing that R&D human capital promoted the growth of GTFP by promoting manufacturing
technical progress.

5.2. Heterogeneity Analysis

In order to explore the heterogeneity of the impact of intelligence on the GTFP of
manufacturing in the three major regions of China’s east, middle and west, we conducted
a regression analysis with sample data from those regions. The specific regression results
are shown in Table 3.
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 12 of 16

Table 3. Regression results of eastern, central, and western regions of China.

East Central West

Variables
GTFP EFF TECH GTFP EFF TECH GTFP EFF TECH
LnInt 0.163 * 0.259 ** −0.147 0.129 ** 0.052 ** −0.32 1.111 0.388 1.209 *
LnFdi −0.2076 ** −0.118 ** −0.1028 * 1.0214 * 0.0779 0.8959 * 2.2953 ** 0.6902 2.587 ***
LnUbr −0.157 −0.083 * 0.021 −0.532 0.731 ** −1.185 ** 1.811 ** 1.48 *** 1.145 **
LnGDP 0.102 0.186 * −0.261 0.409 * 0.475 0.303 0.484 ** 1.391 −0.05
LnHC 0.177 * −0.12 0.009 * 0.501 ** −0.103 −0.625 * −4.682 * −3.88 * −3.547 **
Cons 1.196 *** 1.012 *** 1.198 *** 1.284 *** 0.559 *** 1.697 *** 0.133 *** 0.257 *** 0.409 ***
R2 0.658 0.626 0.579 0.701 0.632 0.561 0.539 0.491 0.646
Note: ***, **, and * represent significance of p-values at 1, 5, and 10%, respectively.

According to Table 3, due to the different levels of economic and social development in
the eastern, central, and western regions, the impact of intelligence on the green total factor
productivity of manufacturing in different regions was also different. This conclusion was
similar to that of the current papers [46–48].
It was found that intelligence had a positive and significant impact on the GTFP
and technical efficiency of manufacturing in the eastern region, while the impact on the
technical progress was not significant. Intelligence promoted the GTFP of manufacturing in
the eastern region by improving the technical efficiency of manufacturing. This was mainly
due to the fact that the manufacturing industry in eastern China mainly uses intelligent
technology to improve the production efficiency of the manufacturing industry, instead of
promoting technological upgrading through intelligent technology.
The impact of intelligence on the GTFP and technical efficiency of the manufacturing
industry in the central region was positive and significant, and the impact on technological
upgrading was not significant. This showed that the effect of intelligence on the GTFP of
manufacturing in the central region was achieved by improving the technical efficiency
of manufacturing enterprises in the central region. Compared with the eastern region,
the development of manufacturing industry in the central region was underdeveloped.
The application of intelligence in the manufacturing industry effectively promoted the
improvement of the technical efficiency of manufacturing enterprises. Intelligence had no
significant impact on the technological progress of the central region, which may be due to
the low level of intelligence in this region.
Intelligence had no significant impact on the GTFP of manufacturing in the western
region. This showed that intelligence has no obvious promotion effect on the GTFP of
the manufacturing industry in the western region, the main reason for which was that
the application of intelligence in the manufacturing industry in the west was still in its
infancy at this stage, and the manufacturing industry in the west was still in the underde-
veloped stage, and had a large gap between the manufacturing industries in the central and
eastern regions.
Based on the analysis of the regression results of the whole country and the eastern
and central regions, it was found that intelligence promoted the GTFP of manufacturing in
the eastern and central regions by improving technical efficiency, and that intelligence had
no significant effect on the improvement of technological progress. This is mainly because
Chinese manufacturing companies use intelligent technology mainly at the application
level, rather than for industrial upgrading and innovation.

5.3. Robustness Test

In order to consider the potential impact of the selection of variable indicators on
the research results, and to ensure the reliability and stability of the research results, we
measured intelligence from the perspective of output, and tested the robustness of the
model. We used the total software business revenue to replace intelligence, while other
variables remained unchanged.
According to a comparison of Tables 2–4, it was found that the variable signs and
significance of the national overall and subregional regression results were basically un-
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 13 of 16

changed, indicating that the national overall and subregional regression results were
relatively stable; that is, intelligence promoted manufacturing GTFP through
technical efficiency.

Table 4. Regression results of robustness tests.

National East Central West

Variables
GTFP EFF TECH GTFP EFF TECH GTFP EFF TECH GTFP EFF TECH
LnInt 0.01 * 0.118 ** −0.017 0.162 ** 0.188 * 0.267 0.098 ** 0.605 * −0.506 1.23 0.04 0.287 **
−0.096 −0.209 −0.228 −0.095 −0.448
LnFdi 0.160 * −0.147 0.425 ** 0.039 2.060 * 2.346 ** 0.616
** * * * *
LnGDP 0.024 * 0.134 ** 0.085 0.199 ** 0.081 * −0.154 0.408 −1.25 0.82 * 1.811 1.073 * 1.441
−0.722
LnUbr −0.179 −0.304 0.541 −0.021 −0.125 0.041 ** 0.281 ** 0.654 1.257 * 0.933 1.739
*
−0.283 −4.246
LnHC 0.193 * 0.054 0.158 * 0.024 * −0.085 0.835 ** 1.172 * 0.017 * −3.3 ** 3.582 *
* **
1.067 0.951 0.932 1.133 1.102 1.241 1.769 0.483 0.141 0.465 0.285
Cons 1.25 ***
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
R2 0.712 0.591 0.497 0.681 0.531 0.526 0.673 0.613 0.589 0.602 0.557 0.696
Note: ***, **, and * represent significance of p-values at 1, 5, and 10%, respectively.

6. Conclusions and Policy Implications

There have been numerous studies on intelligence, many of which focused on the impact
of intelligence on economic development [6–12] and production efficiency [19–30]. They
mainly studied the impact of intelligence on economic development, without considering
environmental and energy factors. In the process of economic development, energy may be
excessively consumed, and the environment may be polluted in the process of production.
This has a negative impact on social development. Unlike these papers, this paper took
environmental factors into consideration.
Using the panel data of 29 provinces in the China mainland from 2008 to 2017, this
paper used the Malmquist–Luenburger model to measure China’s manufacturing GTFP.
The paper analyzed the impact of intelligence on the GTFP, technical efficiency and tech-
nological progress of China’s manufacturing industry from the perspectives of the entire
country and the east, middle, and west regions. The research conclusions of this paper have
three main points. First, intelligence promotes the development of GTFP in manufacturing
by improving technical efficiency. Second, intelligence had a heterogeneous effect on the
eastern, central, and western manufacturing industries. It had a significant promotion
effect on the GTFP of the manufacturing industry in the eastern and central regions, but
had little effect on the GTFP of the western manufacturing industry. Third, in the whole
country and in the eastern, central, and western regions, intelligence had no significant
promotion effect on technological progress. This is because manufacturing companies
develop intelligent technologies mainly to increase productivity to increase profits.
Intelligence promotes the development of GTFP in manufacturing by improving
technical efficiency. This is due to improving production efficiency through intelligent
technology, which can reduce labor costs and increase profits for enterprises in the short
term. The allocation of a large amount of funds and human capital to the R&D department
may cause a decline in the output of the production department in the short term and
increase the operating cost of the enterprise. The enterprise pays too much attention
to the deviation of intelligent technology development caused by the increase of short-
term output and profit. Intelligence had different effects on the GTFP of manufacturing in
different regions. This is due to the differences in the level of intelligence and manufacturing
development in China’s east, middle, and west regions.
The policy implications of this article mainly had the following three aspects.
First, as the main direction of “Made in China 2025”, green development needs to
rely on the positive effects of intelligence. On the one hand, we must take “Made in China
2025”as the guide, gradually promote the implementation of manufacturing intelligent,
and continuously improve the support capacity of intelligence by promoting innovation
Sustainability 2021, 13, 4989 14 of 16

in the new generation of intelligent technologies. On the other hand, we must focus on
promoting the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, accelerate the
integration of intelligence and industrialization, and continuously improve the application
and innovation capabilities of intelligence in the manufacturing industry.
Second, the impact of intelligence on the GTFP of manufacturing in different regions
was different. But the influence of intelligence on the GTFP of manufacturing in the western
region was not significant, mainly due to the underdeveloped level of manufacturing in
that region. As the western ecological environment is relatively fragile, intelligence plays
an important role in protecting the western ecological environment. The government
should increase its support for intelligence and manufacturing in the western region, raise
the level of technology within the region, improve management methods, and ameliorate
the factor endowment structure.
Third, according to the research in this article, intelligence affects the GTFP of the
manufacturing industry through efficiency improvement. The impact of intelligence on
technological progress was not significant. We concluded that enterprises mainly use
intelligent technology to increase productivity, and pay little attention to technological
progress. So, the government and enterprises should increase their research on intelligence
and increase research efforts to break through core technologies to promote technolog-
ical progress. The government should encourage manufacturing enterprises to reduce
environmental pollution and save resources by improving technology upgrades and im-
proving technical efficiency, and use intelligence to accelerate the construction of a green
and low-carbon industrial system, so as to promote the transformation of manufacturing
from high energy consumption and high pollution to a low energy consumption and low
pollution development mode. R&D personnel play an important role in promoting the
level of intelligent development in China, and the government must strongly support the
training of intelligent R&D personnel.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, model analyses, data curation, writing—original draft,

Y.Z.; writing—review and editing, supervision, framework, Z.W. All authors have read and agreed to
the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 71871144) and Shanghai Key Discipline (No. S1201GYXK).
Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the
corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to data which also forms part of an
ongoing study.
Acknowledgments: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 71871144) and Shanghai Key Discipline (No. S1201GYXK). This support is gratefully acknowledged.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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